25 August, 2011 - The Annual Drukpa Council (ADC) is not only a patriotic program in the service of Drukpa Kaguye lineage of Buddhism, but also a service to the Buddha Dharma.

Gyalwang Drukpa Rinpoche, in his address yesterday at the opening of the ADC, said one couldn’t serve the Buddha Dharma without serving one’s own lineage.

“One could say he is a Buddhist, but if one doesn’t have his own ideal, a master or a lineage that he belongs to, he is nobody,” the rinpoche said. Practising one sect of Buddhism does not mean one is serving and favouring only that particular sect, he said. It is a service in preserving the Buddha Dharma.

On the Ladakh-Bhutan relation, Gyalwang Drukpa Rinpoche in a press conference said that the two share a very similar culture and appreciated Bhutan for its policy on culture preservation.

National council chairperson Namgay Penjore said Bhutan and India has enjoyed a close relation for a long time.

“The Tagna monastery in Shey, Ladakh, is the symbol of close ties between Bhutan and Ladakh, with about 21 successive lama-representatives from Bhutan with the Tagna monastery,” he said.

According to former ADC chairperson, Khamtrul Rinpoche, the council’s core objective is to bring people from diverse regions and cultures together to understand oneness for peace, at the same time respect the differences.

“This is because problems and conflicts arise from believing one another as different from each other and ADC is a platform to create oneness,” he said.